Best Earbuds

Top 10 Rated Earbuds 2024

By Brian Jones

We are constantly on the go in the world of today. It could be on the way to school, work, or some exotic location on the other side of the planet. No matter what the situation, we are going to have our music. Earbuds are a great way to keep your load down while continuing to enjoy your favorite music or videos on the go. We rated 10 pairs of earbuds based on the following criteria:

1. Sound quality
2. Comfort for various spans of time
3. Price vs value
4. Durablity of cords and speaker units
5. Included ear fittings, cases, or mic

Earbuds Buying Guide

Understanding Sound Quality When Buying Earbuds

Earbuds are the ultimate in headphones convenience for travel. They take up virtually no space, are usually light as a feather, are low profile, and can be pretty comfortable. Sound quality ranges from good to bad in earbuds more than any other type of headphone because of the space available to work with. Most of the time sound is not going to be issue. The trade off for convenience is sometimes more valuable anyway. Prices also vary in a big way. You can find a pair of earbuds for five dollars or you can spend hundreds. Options are always a good thing to have when shopping for a new pair of earbuds.

Whether you’re a casual music listener or a sound equipment aficionado, it’s worthwhile to know the finer points of sound quality in order to understand what manufacturers are talking about when they claim their headphones are the best.

Sound perception is different for everybody. The best way to select new headphones is to try them out. How else are you going to know what they are like? Since everyone has different shaped heads and ear canals, they’ll perceive sound differently. This is especially important since earbuds pipe music directly into the ears. Hence, it’s important to try on different headphones not only to see which ones are comfortable to wear, but to get an idea of the range of sound.

Consider the following questions:

• Are the earbuds small enough and light enough for what you plan on using them for?

• Does the sound come out clear with no distortions or muddiness?
• Is the bass clear, powerful, and controlled?
• You don’t want a bass so strong that it overpowers the vocals and lighter sounds.
• Are the high sounds tinny or smooth?

Understanding Other Sound Terms

Frequency: Earbuds capture the complete range of sounds that humans can hear, from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. The question is how well they reproduce those frequencies. Any low frequencies below 20 Hz aren’t audible, but you can sometimes feel them.

Sensitivity: Headphones measure their loudness efficiency in terms of decibels per milliwatt of power. You want a high sensitivity number of at least 100 dB if you’re using a portable device. The lower the sensitivity, the harder the headphones have to work to sound as loud as those with high sensitivity.

Impedance: Impedance is measured in ohms and it relates to how much resistance the headphones put on an amplifier. Most earbuds for professional and commercial use have impedance under 100 ohms. The higher the impedance, the more power you’ll need.

Brian Jones has had a passion for photography and anything related for the majority of his life. One photography class in high school was all it took to get hooked on everything to do with the subject. He became more focused on learning about camera… See more about Brian

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